Improved corkscrew



UNITED ASTATESv PATENT '()EEIcE.

WILLIAM ERADGLEY, oF GEEENBUSH, NEW YORK.

IMPROVED ooRKsCREw. Y

body of the instrument; Figs. 2 and 3, a ver tical section in the line of my, Fig. 1, showing the machinery in 'different positions of its operation. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of socket a.

Similar letters denote the same parlsof the apparatus.

AAis a metal cylindrical case,large enough to hold a quart-bottle cork, 0,4within its lower cavity, B, which has a bel1-mouth to fit over' and upon the neck of a bottle, as shown at Fig. 2. Its upper cavity, D, is made smaller and truly cylindrical to receive snugly another metal cylinder, E,titted accurately to its bore, so as to move steadily through it from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that in Fig. 3. Within the outer periphery of E a square threaded screw-groove, Gr, is cut, of a suitable pitch for the power required to draw a cork,

and at H in the upper rim of A a pin is inserted, projecting through it into the groove G as the point of resistance for the groove to act upon, so that as the cylinder E is turned to the right or left hand it will be forced upward or downward within A. Cylinder E contains a hollow cavity, J, bored truly nearly through it, so as t0 permit to move through it a hollow socket, @,being two half-cylinders, (shown in large scale in Fig. 4,) which, when placed together, are intended to hold within them by a tlange or head, e, the corkscrew K,and by head r the handle-shaft L. These heads are fitted, as shown in the drawings, as couplings, the one with at ongue the other with a groove, so that when in the position shown in Fig. 2 the shaft L, by its handle M, can turn the screw K; but when as shown in Fig. 3 the screw remains still while the handle is turning, the socket a having room in it for that purpose.

In putting the parts together, the. shaft L and screw Kare put together within the socket ct and the whole inserted within the cavity of E, the shaft L passing through an opening in the top of the cavity,and then is secured within the handle M. Through the upper part of shaft L a cross-pin, p, is inserted, and in the top edges of E a deep notch, f, is sunk for the pin to lie in, the pin being adjusted so that when inthe notch the base of socket a, hanging from L, shall align with the base of E. To facilitatethe entrance of the pin into the notch, the edge of Eis beveled from b to f,

corresponding with the inclination o1' the screw K.

The Operation of theV apparatus is thus: The cylinder E being down within A,as in Fig. 2, the shaft L is drawn upward through it by its handle M until the socket or reaches the top of the cavity J. This brings the point ofscrew K up even with the mouth of A when it is to be placed upon the cork. Upon the pressing down of the handle the couplings eand r uniteI and the screw passes down into the cork until the pinp enters its notch, as shown in Fig. 2, when the further movement of the handle turns cylinder E, whose grooves, moving along pin H, raise vit up. By this movement c and r become uncoupled,so that the screw K draws the cork directly upward until the apparatus takes the position shown in Fig. 3 and the cork is free from the bottle.

Iam aware that there is a corkscrew bearing a partial resemblance to mine; but in that one the corkscrew is firmly fixed to a shaft like L, which fits with a screw-thread within a hollow cylinder, like F,the thread of the screw being intended to correspond with the spiral of the corkscrew. When this shaft arrives at the end of its movement, the further turning of its handle turns the cylinder corresponding to E andforces it upward, as in my machine; but of course this turning twists with it the corkscrew, the consequence of which is that if the cork be so firmly fixed within the bottle that it will not yield promptly to the twist of the screw,it (the screw) cuts out from the cork a cylindrical core and leaves the cork behind. Besides, if, as frequently happens, the corkscrew become slightly elongated, so that its spiral differs from the thread of the screw upon the shaft, then the cork-core is cut out by the y entrance of the screw. In either case the cork has to be extracted by piecemeal, fouling the contents of the bottle with its dbris. Now, my apparatus, by the free motion of the shaft, permits the screw to make its own Way into the cork,and when entered, by the disengagement of the couplings, to be drawn directly upward Without being twisted within the body ot' the cork.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The screwK and handleshaft L,with their coupling-heads eand r and their socket a, the pin p in the shaft, with its notchf in the top of cylinder E, the cylinder E, with its groove G,and pin H of outer cylinder, A,t.he Whole 0perating together as a corkscrew, snbstantiall y in the manner set forth in the Within specifi` cation.

WILLTAM FRADGLEY.

Vitnesses:

E. J. MILLER, RUH VARUK DE WITT. 

